Wallpaper removal

[silas]

Hi spent yesterday on a new renovation. We hired a wallpaper stripper for the day and had little success in the kitchen dining area. The heat from the steamer also melts the oil based paint underneath and it is a long slow process to get them both off. Does anyone have any sugestions to speed the process up?

Silas

 

[geoffw]

Some hints

http://www.naturalhandyman.com/iip/infpai/wlpprstrp.shtm

http://www.hgtv.com/hgtv/rm_walls_wallpaper/article/0,,HGTV_3807_1374585,00.html

http://www.dummies.com/WileyCDA/DummiesArticle/id-2494.html

 

[silas]

Thanks Geoff appreciate your response.

Silas

 

[geoffw]

I hope there's something there of use Silas.

Let us know what was successful.

 

[The Y-man]

Right-click on Desktop, click "Properties", then the "Desktop" tab.... oh, sorry, wrong type of Wallpaper....

Cheers,

The Y-man

 

[geoffw]

Right-click on Desktop, click "Properties", then the "Desktop" tab.... oh, sorry, wrong type of Wallpaper....

Hmmm, OK, EVERYBODY's doing GeoffW jokes now

The steam cleaner wouldn't do much for that sort of wallpaper.

 

[Dazz]

Just spent the whole day doing this with the Father on one of his IP's.

We found it worked best using the steamer to strip the wallpaper layer off first as a first go, and then go over it a second time to get the backing and glue off.

If you try and get the whole lot all in one go, the steam doesn't penetrate the uppermost wallpaper layer, leaving the backing and glue dry, which renders it almost impossible to get off.

The two step process worked a treat and he's just shouted me a beer for the help.

Good luck.

 

[ani]

Score the old wallpaper first with a razor blade or similar about every 10cms in a rough diamond pattern. This lets the steam or water penetrate and it "should" all come away in one go.

 

[geoffw]

Score the old wallpaper first with a razor blade or similar about every 10cms in a rough diamond pattern. This lets the steam or water penetrate and it "should" all come away in one go.

It's been a long time since I removed wallpaper- and even that was in another country.

A note on this one which was mentioned in one of the articles I quoted earlier

Score the surface of the wallpaper. Although you can use a utility knife to score the wallpaper, you must be careful not to cut through the paper and into the wall. An easier method is to use a wallpaper-scoring tool, which is specifically designed to score wallpaper. This tool has notched teeth that perforate and lift the wallpaper as they roll along it.

I don't know if such a tool is available in Australia- this is a US site.

Wallpaper is a lot less common here than it was in England- a pity. Before I went to England, wallpaper was something my grandmother used to use- but it was much more common in England, and the choice was huge; it gave possibilities far beyond painting, and the results looked far more professional.

I painted and papered in out house in England, and the papered walls were so much better.

Silas, I assume you are going to paint rather than paper, over the top?

 

[silas]

Thanks all. Yes you get the scoring device with the steamer. We used this however the main reason it is taking so long is that it is mostly well stuck to a layer of oil based glue that comes off slowly with the wall paper. It left it will leave a blotchy job as it comes off relativly easily in some places(from the other layer paint). We managed to do about 1 1/2 walls in a day. So was wondering if there was an easier way. Fortunatly out of the kitchen/dining area it seems to be coming off easier. Thanks for all your help will keep trying ( or someone else will )

Silas

 

[Sultan of Swing]

I painted and papered in out house in England, and the papered walls were so much better.

I dare not ask what you sort of paper you papered you out house with....

 

[geoffw]

I dare not ask what you sort of paper you papered you out house with....

Much the same as the in house..

SOS, you're staring to pick up the GeoffW title

 

[TheBacon]

I had great fun with the recent reno.


Had to use a belt-sander to sand back the wall-paper before using the steamer!!

Then the drops of old glue setled onto the dust from the sanding!!

Messy, but it got rid of the horrid paper. Then of course I had to bog in the 3 millon holes where previous tenants had hammered in nails...

Good luck, I hope you dont have as much trouble as I did.
TheBacon

 

[silas]

Thanks for the advice. I am thinking I may tell my 15 year old son that I don't think he could do it (get the wallpaper off). And put some money in his long term savings (for assets) if he can.

Silas

 

[sbe]

There's a few different types of wallpaper.

Vinyl - Rip off the vinyl top layer and the steamer works a treat.
Paper - Score in diamon pattern and streamer works, a little slower though.
Mongrel - Usually helped by a 'handyman' who used industrial strength glue to stick the edges that came lose. Best solution is to replace the wall immediately. Anything else will result in digging holes in plaster trying to remove riduculously strong adhesives, after which time you'll spend the next few days filling and sanding trying to get the wall smooth again , only to have a wall that in the end looks like &^%*&$

Enjoy !

Simon.

 

[silas]

Thaks Simon. we will give it another go.

Silas